Lahore, December 27, 2021 (PPI-OT):While the previous year was dominated by the dual shock of the pandemic, this year forced institutions and organizations to adapt to the ‘new’ normal. The first half still saw some residual effects of the pandemic in terms of constrained field work and investments in new programmes, but the second half has been a ‘rebuild’ of sorts. CERP continued to collaborate with global academic institutions, government officials, private sector companies, and non-profit / social sector organizations on impact focused initiatives.
On our research and survey side, we have seen both resumption of field work under careful SOPs as well as new interventions to better understand effects of the pandemic. For example, we launched the Targeted Instruction Program (TIP) led by our Education Research team to study learning losses due to school closures and to pilot accelerated learning curriculums. CERP continued several Covid-19 response projects into this year including the Economic Vulnerability Assessment (EVA) that revealed variations in income, food insecurity, household consumption and mental health incidence through three rounds (urban and rural mixed sample) during the pandemic. The Imam Outreach project led by the Womens’ Mobility research team highlighted the role religious and community leaders can play in improving SOP compliance.
CERP Analytics won the Sub-National Governance Programme’s Innovation Challenge Fund in partnership with Red Buffer, Punjab E and T department and The Urban Unit to build an end-to-end property tax data system building on evidence and insights from our own research work. It used advanced mapping technology and AI engines to identify properties for assessment, manage field workflows, and monitor / reward performance of tax collectors.
Executive Education at CERP held several training events including Evidence-Based Program Design (EBPD), Monitoring and Evaluation Boot Camp and the Building Capacity to Use Research Evidence (BCURE) training conducted in collaboration with the National School of Public Policy and Harvard’s Evidence for Policy Design. The Executive Education team also developed the behavioural nudges kit for WHO on HPV vaccination take up which led CERP to build a long-term partnership with Busara Institute in Kenya. CERP hosted and participated in various global online events like the gLocal Evaluation Week 2021 in collaboration with CLEAR South Asia.
Technology built by CERP Labs continued their work with MISchool and IlmExchange platforms to assist low-cost private schools access financial, training and support services. It also built the entire application framework and data system for AirMed – a private sector firm focused on improving labour participation by women and training of Nurses for better job placements.
CERP Research Fellows and the Board of Directors include some of the most accomplished academics like Dr. Adnan Qadir Khan who was recently appointed as the new Chief Economist at the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO). Furthermore, the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship in Economics was awarded to Dr. Atif Mian while Dr. Tahir Andrabi and Dr. Abhijit Banerjee were both selected as panel members on the new Global Education Evidence Advisory Panel at the World Bank Group (WBG).
As part of our CSR efforts, CERP collaborated with the Pakistan Innovation Foundation (PIF) and LUMS BEE Society to launch The National Science Bowl Pakistan 2021 to encourage the love of science among high schoolers in Pakistan. Above all, I am deeply proud of the way CERP and its staff demonstrated resilience throughout the pandemic as well as innovated across programmes and verticals to not only adapt but also thrive and build for the future.
For more information, contact:
Centre for Economic Research in Pakistan (CERP)
29-P Gulberg II, Lahore – 54660, Pakistan
Tel: +92-42-35777844
Email: contact@cerp.org.pk
Website: https://www.cerp.org.pk/